Cities around the world have proudly displayed their public artworks. It's time we do the same.
A TOWKAY scales the wall of a shophouse in Love Lane, George Town, to see his mistress. A labourer heaves chunky tin ingots while smoke billows from the smelters along Penang's Jalan Dato Keramat. Over in Kuala Lumpur, Indian dancers strike bharatanatyam poses in the busy streets of Brickfields.
Streets chock full of culture and heritage? It's almost as if some Citrawarna tourism carnival has come to town, except that the characters in question are all inanimate sculptures.
These works have all come up in the past year thanks to the vision of Sculptureatwork, a company which believes it's about time art becomes more public. And what better way to display it 24/7, rain or shine, and for free, than by having three-dimensional public sculptures?
The tin industry sculptures mentioned above adorn the commercial-residential development known as Penang Times Square, the site of which was once the Eastern Smelting Company.
"The developer initially wanted to bring in sculptures from China and elswhere," recalls Sculptureatwork founder Y.L. Soon.
"But we felt that simply plonking down a few foreign works would not have much significance. Since the site was formerly a tin smelter, we proposed some sculptures that would relate to the site. If you put those same works elsewhere, the meaning would be lost."
The company has created its own outdoor landmarks over the years. At the Hard Rock Café in Penang Michael Jackson sits on a throne in the same pose as the US president at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
Several aspirational figures representing the "fundamental values" of Amway adorn its corporate headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, and Coastal Runners are frozen in perpetual "motion" along Penang's Jelutong Expressway.
Its indoor sculptures are also fascinating. Diners at a restaurant at KL's Mandarin Oriental hotel can get "horny" with animal heads made of wire frames covered with rice paper, while photographers visiting the Nikon showroom in KL can test their lenses on the colourful miniature figures "living" amidst a small "town".
Visitors to the company's head office in Bangsar, KL, can see how a Penang Indian barber shop has been faithfully recreated, complete with miniature chairs, scissors and eau de cologne bottles!
Creativity sprawls all over the office, what with "clouds" hovering above the main gallery, 1960s hair perming machines converted into standing lamps, and 3D facades of old Penang shops.
"The shops are 1:10 scale models," explains Tommy Chen, marketing executive of Sculptureatwork. "Everything is faithfully redone, down to the cloth curtains and carved wooden Chinese signboards."
The feather in the company's cap came last April when it won a competition on how to artistically enhance George Town's heritage, beating 40 (foreign and local) contestants. And that's what the climbing Love Lane towkay is all about – it's one of an eventual 52 sculptures which will illustrate the history and culture of this Unesco World Heritage city.
At Weld Quay, renowned for its Indian-style noodles, sailors and port workers cry out for water after tucking into spicy noodles in the sculpture titled Too Hot. Over at Transfer Road, the Goh Kah Kee caricature is an infotainment piece about the history of five-foot way pavements. All the figures and text are flat, like cartoons made using metal rods of different diameters. In fact, the judges chose Sculptureatwork's proposal because the concept of the People's Voices (of history) would accentuate George Town's heritage and make it more interesting to visitors.
It was also deemed to be cost effective, and could be "implemented immediately". Also, the robust metal rod creations require minimal maintenance.
"To come up with the sculptures, we studied the character of numerous sites all over George Town," says creative director Tang Mung Kian. "Our idea was to showcase the People's Voices, not replicate textbook history. For example, stories like how the towkays used to keep mistresses in Love Lane.
"It helped that my wife is from Penang and my mother-in-law told me many old stories, like how gangsters in Noordin Street used to hide their parangs under signboards. Such insights can't be found in tourist guidebooks. It was an exciting project because every site has a different history."
True to Penangites' reputation for thrift, the project offers real value for money – RM1.02 million for a whopping 52 sculptures.
"That works out to less than RM20,000 for each sculpture. We are working with the state government and the deal is very transparent," says Chen.
"The cartoonists have done their work at a special discounted rate. It's a win-win situation for us and them, as they also gain exposure. This is not just a state affair but a Unesco project. The judges included people like (architects) Hijjas Kasturi and Sek San. It was a real honour to be chosen."
So far, the company has delivered 11 sculptures based on cartoons by Reggie Lee and Tang himself. Other creations will include the Labourer to Trader sculpture at Chowrasta Market, where two traders skilfully carry wares on their heads.
Convict labourers were reputed to have built most of the government buildings in the state's early history; some eventually upgraded themselves into petty traders, becoming the core group that started the market.
A trader on a small sampan will profess his love to a young maiden staring down from her bedroom window. This will be the Waterway sculpture next to the Prangin River, once a bustling waterway for goods shipped from all over the world.
At Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, the Bullock Cart Wheel cartoon will have huge antique half-cent coins as wheels. The area was once a popular rest stop for cart drivers.
The One Leg Kicks All sculpture at Muntri Street will show a woman carrying a baby while using her leg to hang up clothes, kungfu-style, reflecting how the amahs (maids) were like domestic superwomen. The amah wryly refers to herself as yat keok tet, which translates as "one leg kicks all" in Cantonese.
The next phase of the project may include transparent telephone booths with speech bubbles and functional sculptures such as benches which double as trishaw stands.
Chen points out that all sculptures have to be approved by a committee comprising the George Town World Heritage Inc, Penang Heritage Trust, the state government and Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) to ensure that they not only reflect history and culture accurately, but are also not offensive to any community. The owners of the buildings where the sculptures are installed are also consulted.
Initially, the clients provides a rough idea of what they want, says marketing executive Gary Lim. "Then our creative department in KL comes up with some concepts. Once the client approves it, the team of sculptors at our Penang workshop will produce it."
In the days of Michelangelo, solid blocks of marble had to be laboriously chipped away to create statues. These days, there is the technology of cold casting, where powdered marble or limestone (calcium carbonate) can be put into a mould and then, with the help of industrial resins (gums) and fibreglass, be made to look like imitation marble.
Similarly, powdered clay (malachite) can be bonded with chemicals to look like faux porcelain, without the need for expensive furnaces.
A crew of some 60 sculptors work under two master sculptors, Low Chee Peng and Alex Ang, at the Penang workshop, which occupies the former Mei Du cinema in Jelutong.
Coming of age
Sculptureatwork was established in 2005 but Soon, who studied at the Malaysian Institute of Art, had been doing commercial sculpting projects before that. His company, Working Theme, specialises in designing and building entertainment outlets such as the Bintang Palace and Aloha bar (both in KL) and Paradise in Johor Baru.
The first two years were tough, he says. "We were not sure if the venture would succeed as people did not really accept sculpture then. I had to pump in money from my other companies."
Soon is glad that sculpture is taking off locally.
"Malaysians are used to travelling overseas nowadays and when they see sculptures, they wonder, 'Why don't we have it at home?'"
Equally important is that companies are also more open about sculptures.
"All this while, they've been willing to spend money on advertising. But ads have a limited lifespan and their value drops with time, whereas sculptures are iconic and permanent, their value is long-term."
Chen says Malaysians still find it difficult to accept sculpture that's "too abstract", so they choose something inbetween realism and the totally avant-garde.
"We are not selling sculpture, we are selling ideas and design concepts," Soon adds. "We study the site and its relationship to culture and people and then custom design the sculpture to suit people and places, and enhance the environment of the properties."
Chen says the demand for sculpture is growing and it has become part of "lifestyle development", citing the company's outdoor installations for two high-end condominium projects along Jalan Kia Peng and Mont Kiara in KL. "Developers now want sculpture as part of image branding for their properties."
Apart from developers and designers, the other key aspect is support from the authorities. One artist reveals that in the past, some public sculptures were viewed as jokes.
"The problem is that the people in the local authorities do not know much about art – that's why we have seen some dubious so-called abstract sculptures. It's not like in Europe where the town councils have people, or even whole departments, that know about art and can evaluate proposals properly," Chen says.
Artists' frustration over how some authorities lack artistic sense is best seen in the case of Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal's abstract sculpture, Puncak Purnama, in downtown KL. When City Hall made alterations to "improve it", the artist sued it for destroying the artistic integrity of his work. He won the case last year.
One reason that public sculptures are not as common here as in, say, Indonesia is that some Muslims view them as potential idols.
"I am not sure why there is this impression; after all, we also see sculptures in the Middle East," says Lim.
To avoid any controversy, the team usually tries to create "semi abstract" or stylised sculptures, such as the Coastal Runners in Penang, rather than overly realistic human replicas. Cartoons are also seen as inoffensive.
"For the George Town project, we have line drawings of cartoons because we understand that some Muslims are uneasy about having patung (idols or statues)," Soon explains.
"Our designs are not so abstract that people cannot understand them. The main thing is to arouse their curiosity about art. But (public) art is about having people responding and asking questions," says Lim.
"As we invest more money on culture, people will appreciate it more. We are just doing our best and public acceptance is not bad so far.
"The people in my workshop are very multi-racial. Everybody is working together to produce original designs. I believe that given a chance, Malaysians can be as good as anyone else in the world," Soon adds.
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